Partners in Success Why Poynter Sheet Metal receiving a top industry honor is a win for labor and management
By / Natalie Bruckner Reputation is everything in business. While it’s essential for any business to build a strong reputation among customers and potential future customers, there’s something very humbling about gaining recognition from peers: people who know the industry, understand its challenges and nuances, and recognize leadership within the sector. When SMACNA’s Poynter Sheet Metal was named SNIPS Contractor of the Year, Joseph Lansdell, president at Poynter, felt extreme pride. “This award is a testament to how hard every employee has worked to help us stand by our mission of achieving excellence as leaders in the industry and community through continuous improvement,” he says. The peer-reviewed award celebrates HVAC contractors who complete duct fabrication and installation around the country and whose cumulative portfolio of work and company culture exemplify innovation and excellence in the HVAC sheet metal fabrication industry. For yet another SMACNA contractor to receive the award, it’s another feather in the cap for SMACNA contractors and SMART craftpersons who have been working together through these challenging times to drive the industry toward a cooperative, innovative, and exemplary future. Scott Parks, business manager, financial secretary/treasurer at Local 20, says that this kind of recognition is great on many levels. “It is a remarkable accomplishment,” he says. “Both the management team and the members working for Poynter have worked extremely hard throughout the years. Having a third party validate these efforts demonstrates they have been on the right path for some time. The hard work, sacrifices, and investment have paid off.” 8 » Partners in Progress » www.pinp.org
He adds that the award also stands as an endorsement for an industry that is “not the best at tooting its own horn.” “The exposure and earned media provided by this prestigious honor will be noticed by end-users and decision makers from coast to coast,” Parks says. “This award provides great insight on Poynter’s commitment to all-round quality and will have many thinking, ʻI want Poynter on my next project.’” You could say Poynter exemplifies everything this industry strives toward—it has built an excellent labor-management relationship; it values its employees and is committed to their growth; and it embraces technology to excel in what they do and make everyone’s lives just a little bit easier. And the proof of their success is in the numbers: since 2014, the company has seen its sales double to $100 million. Lansdell attributes a big part of the company’s success to embracing technology fairly early on in the game. “We were able to see the correlation between using technology and saving time, whether it was investing in better machinery or creating a digital paperwork process,” he says. “Better machinery allowed us to do more work and save time. Digital processes also elevated administrative burdens from our employees and allowed us to grow without large increases in the staff, all while avoiding employee burnout.” During a time where labor shortage has reached an all-time high, this focus on being able to train and retain quality staff is essential, and Landsell credits Poynter’s relationship with Local 20 for being able to overcome high staff turnover rates. Poynter also recognizes that while fair pay is important, employees today are looking for more than that—they long
